Photo by Allen CarrascoPhoto by Allen Carrasco
Mike Diffenderfer is one of the most influential surfer/shapers to come out of California in the modern era. Raised in La Jolla, he moved to Hawaii after graduating from La Jolla High School in 1956 to become one of the original, haole, North Shore pioneers, as a member of the legendary "Mead Hall Gang". He returned to California after 25 years in the Islands, and I conducted the following interview with him in the early 80s while he was living in Del Mar and shaping beautiful, chambered balsa and redwood boards out of Tony Channin's shop in Encinitas. It was originally published in the now-defunct Breakout surf magazine in 1983, and we dragged it back out here for your edification and enjoyment. For 5-10 years in the 80s and 90s, Diff was living and shaping in Tamarindo, Costa Rica, where he helped design the golf course at the resort there, but has returned to Hawaii now. You may have seen him in Endless Summer II, in the Costa Rica segment. He's the one sneaking the iguana into Pat O'Connell's board bag. He occasionally returns to the mainland U.S. to shape a few boards in California and Florida, and to try to make the cut for the senior professional golf tour each year.
TT: When and where did you start surfing?
Diff: I was born in Beverly Hills in 1937, but we moved to La Jolla when I was two weeks old, so I consider it my hometown. We lived in the Shores area when there were only five houses there, along with the La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club.
One day at WindanSea in 1949 I was surfing a matt in ten foot peaks and a clean-up set ripped it out of my hands. A good friend of mine, Norm Jump, was out on his plank and took me in to the beach tandem-style. Right then I was hooked on the speed, I knew I had to surf a board.
Guys like Buzzy Bent, Buster Magee and Pete Parkins were already good surfers when I started. People would travel down from up north to surf WindanSea, guys like Mickey Dora, Mickey Munoz and Phil Edwards. Bob Simmons surfed there a lot. I remember when he was killed surfing there. I helped recover his body three days later, but that's not one of my favorite memories from those days.
TT: What is your best memory from that era?
Diff: During the summer of 1954, the surf never went below six feet at WindanSea for two months straight. When it pumped, it was ten to twelve feet for days at a time. Once, during the peak of a swell, when there was a full moon and a hot, off-shore Santa Ana condition, we surfed all day, all night, and all of the next day. It was a 36-hour surf marathon that I'll never forget.
TT: You moved to the Islands when you were about 18, right?
Diff: Well, I was back and forth from the Islands to the mainland for the next 25 years, but yeah, Hawaii was pretty much my home from then on. Tony Channin and I started Channin/Diffenderfer Surfboards and I was the Hawaiian side of the business and he was the Mainland guy here in Del Mar, but I came back and visited a lot.
TT: What was the "Mead Hall Gang" thing all about?
Diff: When I first went over to the North Shore, there was a bunch of us living together in an old quonset hut out by Sunset Beach- just a bunch of young, crazy haoles living on rice, fish, pineapples and beer. We tore out the whole inside of the quonset and built this big, long, rough picnic table with benches, where we'd all sit down to eat and drink. I think somebody came in once while we were chowing down, drinking beer, and being generally rowdy, and said the place looked like a medieval mead hall. The name just stuck, I guess. We became the "Mead Hall Gang". I think it had something to do with our lifestyle.
TT: What are your outstanding memories from surfing on the North Shore in those early days?
Diff: The winter of 1959 was incredible. There were at least 23 days of surf over fifteen feet and ten days that closed out the whole North Shore. We went over to the west side and rode Makaha at 20' plus.
I was there the first time Pipeline was ridden, at least in the modern era. Bruce Brown, Mike Hynson, Phil Edwards and I went down to Pupukea one day and couldn't help but notice the wide-open barrels rolling through over there. So we drove up to Ehukai Beach Park and watched it peel mechanically, wondering if it was makeable. Finally, Phil went out and rode three waves and Bruce filmed it. A little later, Butch Van Artsdalen, a good friend of mine from the WindanSea days, was featured in at least three surf films just ripping the place, and everyone in the world wanted to ride the spot. That was pretty memorable.
TT: When did you first start shaping?
Diff: I shaped my first board out of balsa in 1951. I did it in the street at Bird Rock because my father wouldn't let me make a mess in the garage. I would guess by now I've shaped about 20-25,000 boards, including sailboards.
TT: How has surfing changed for you over the years?
Diff: It is less of the gung-ho, 24-hour-a-day lifestyle that it once was. It's more of a pastime now, leaving more room in my life for other interests, like golf. It's still a big part of my life, though.